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"At a mile distant their thousand hooves were stuttering thunder, coming at a rate that frightened a man - they were an awe inspiring sight, galloping through the red haze - knee to knee and horse to horse - the dying sun glinting on bayonet points..." Trooper Ion Idriess
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The Battle of Kaukab
Palestine, 30 September 1918
Contents
Item
Outline
The Battle of Kaukab, Palestine, 30 September 1918, Outline
Further Reading:
The Battle of Kaukab, Palestine, 30 September 1918
Battles where Australians fought, 1899-1920
The Liberation of Damascus
Palestine, 1 October 1918
Outline
Chapter XLIV The Capture of Damascus
During the night Wilson had assembled his brigade on the high ground above the village of Dumar, at the western entrance to the Barada Gorge. At 5 a.m. he began his hazardous move through the heart of the city to reach the position lie was ordered to occupy on the road to Horns. At that time he knew nothing of the action of Ayoubi and Said, but believed that Damascus was still in the hands of the Turks. He was aware that some thousands of enemy troops must be concentrated in the town, and in the circumstances his decision to attempt the passage of the narrow, crowded streets was a daring one: hit lie very properly staked success on the moral effect to be produced by his galloping horsemen upon the over marched and beaten foe. A handful of the brigade scouts under Foulkes-Taylor (the youngster who had galloped Es Salt earlier in the year) probed out the way, closely followed by Todd's 10th Regiment, with Major Timperley's squadron leading.
The passage through the gorge was restricted to a walk by the terrible effects of the previous evening's slaughter. The roadway was heaped up with dead and wounded Turks and Germans, vehicles, and killed and maimed teams of cattle and horses. So deadly had been the shooting that, despite all the cover close at hand along the bends of the gorge and about the vehicles, 370 dead were counted, and great numbers of wounded. A flock of sheep which had accompanied one of the columns were all dead upon the road, and even dogs had been shot. At Dumar a troop-train was taken with 480 prisoners, and among the wreckage along the route were eight guns and thirty machine-guns. But, though the scene was grim, and they as yet knew nothing of the sporting enterprise ahead, the Western Australians, long seasoned alike to the horrors and the risks of war, rode with light hearts through the early morning shadows of the winding pass. The train at Dumar had contained, besides great wealth in gold and silver coin, a store of German cigars; and, as the troopers passed out of the gorge, and the sun-touched minarets of the city rose above the beautiful tangle of green gardens splashed with ripening fruit and gay with flowers, they blew forth clouds of smoke, and seemed to have no thought beyond their keen relish of the moment.
Their way was along a narrow dusty road on the north bank of the swirling main stream of the Barada, now contained between straight banks as it leads into the city; on their left was a dingy mud wall, and then sharply rising gardens enclosing the richest homes of Damascus. As Timperley and Major Olden (4econd in command of the 10th Regiment) rode forward behind the scouts, their appearance was the signal for an outburst of scattered rifle-fire. A few shots came from Turkish snipers, but most of the rifles were discharged into the air as an exuberant greeting from the Arabs. Now clear of the pass and definitely committed, Olden increased the pace to the gallop, and, raising a dense cloud of dust, the squadron dashed on towards the centre of the city. As they bowled along beside the Barada, they passed within less than 200 yards of the great Turkish hospital and barracks across the stream on their right, where many thousands of enemy troops were assembled, apparently just rousing themselves for breakfast. But the pace was not slackened, and the Turks, dazed with exhaustion and sickness, made no attempt to use their rifles. Riding up to the bridge beside the Victoria Hotel, Olden and Timperley were attracted by a great throng of people outside the Serai on the other side of the water. Sword in hand, the Australians clattered over the bridge, charged through the crowd, and pulled up in front of the building. Scores of eager hands seized their reins, and Olden and Timperley, taking their revolvers and followed by a few troopers, entered the building and demanded to see the civil governor.
Early as was the hour- it was then between 6.30 and 7 a.m. - the hall was packed with the notables. When the clamour caused by the appearance of the Australians was stilled, Emir Said advanced. Olden, unaware of the situation, told him that Damascus was surrounded by many thousands of Chauvel's troops, and resistance was impossible; he next demanded an assurance that his troops would not be molested, and gave in return the undertaking that the lives and property of the populace would not be molested. Emir Said, with characteristic Eastern dignity, readily acquiesced.
"In the name of the civil population of Damascus," he said, " I welcome the British army." He formally wrote out his assurance for Olden, who, declining eagerly-proffered hospitality, left the building and continued his ride towards the Homs road.
The old city was now delirious with excitement. Christians and Arabs, in all the colours of their varied dress, crowded about the light horse column. Rugs and silks, flowers and perfumes, with fruits and other delicacies, were thrown from the windows, and the mob fought for the privilege of holding and touching the stirrups of the victors. Only with great difficulty was Wilson's stern march to action stopped from degenerating into a tumultuous and indefinite triumphal procession about the streets and bazaars. Zeki Bey, an officer detailed by Emir Said to guide the column to the Holm road, could not be made to understand that the Australians were anxious to get clear of the city as soon as possible. He insisted upon a parade; but a Greek merchant, who had formerly lived in Jaffa, came to the rescue, and led the way across the city out towards the north.
From the westward hills modern Damascus, with its tali gardens and its towers and minarets, is fair to look upon. But, after passing in through wide orchards and trailing vines and stately avenues of poplars and other decorative trees, the crowded city itself is dingy and squalid. No trace remains of the old-time splendour; even the famous bazaars, although occasionally they yield a treasure in ancient dyes and Eastern handicraft, are stocked chiefly with shoddy goods from the West. Yet the city is still to the traveller a place of magic and glamour, which "doth tease us out of thought as doth eternity." The Australians on this wonderful morning were the only calm, purposeful men in the clamorous city. Years of campaigning had moulded them into reserved men of the world, and the streets of old Damascus were but a stage in the long path of war. They rode with drawn swords, dusty and unshaven, their big hats battered and drooping, through the excited people of the ancient city, with the same easy casual bearing, and the same quiet self confidence, which mark their bearing on their country tracks at home. They ate their grapes, and smoked their cigars, and missed no dark smiling eyes at the windows; but they showed no excitement or elation. And their lean, long-tailed horses, at home now like their riders on any road in the world, found nothing in the shouting mob or banging rifles of the Arabs, or in the narrow ways and vivid hues of the bazaars, to cause them once to shy or even cock an ear.
Soon after 7 o'clock Wilson was clear of the city and in vigorous pursuit of the enemy columns in flight towards Homs. When a few months before he had galloped Es Salt so brilliantly, he took no special steps to advise General Hodgson of his success, but had proceeded at once with the complete fulfilment of his orders. So now at Damascus he sent him no messenger and left no troops in the city, but went on after the enemy with every man in his brigade. When, therefore, soon after he had cleared the streets, Lawrence rode into the town with a few Arab horsemen on the heels of the advance-guard of the 24th Cavalry Brigade, the Arabs believed that they shared with the Indians the honour of the first entry. The delight of the tribesmen was boundless. Galloping with wild shouts about the streets, trailing their coloured silks and cottons and firing their rifles, they made a have display. Their melodramatic demonstration, in sharp contrast to the casual bearing of the hard-fighting Australians, who had risked all nearly two hours earlier, chilled the Christians, but aroused the great Moslem crowds to frenzy. About 830 a.m. Chauvel drove in from his advance headquarters at Kaukab to arrange for the civil administration of the city. He found Shukri Pasha at the Serai, agreed that he should act temporarily as military governor, and then drove back to confer with his three Divisional Commanders.
Bourchier, with the 4th and 12th Light Horse Regiments, had passed the night on the edge of plantations south-west. of the city. About 6 a.m. Hodgson ordered him to push patrols forward, and the leading squadrons, under Major J. C. Chanter, working through the crooked lanes, came upon thousands of Turks assembled about the hospital and barracks. The enemy troops showed no disposition to fight; but, as they still carried arms and Chanter had only about 100 men, be waited for the rest of the 4th Regiment to come up. The enemy was then challenged, and about 12,000 Turks laid down their rifles. These wretched men had been marching hard for ten days on their long journey from Gilead and Bashan, and were in the last stage of exhaustion. Driven hard by Barrow, and worried all the way by the Arabs, short of rations and tramping on blistered and bleeding feet, they presented a lamentable picture of physical and mental suffering. Dysentery was general and acute, and malaria and other diseases, including cholera and typhus, were already rife in their ranks and were rapidly spreading. The great barrack, which had been turned into a hospital, was packed with severe cases: desperately sick men, utterly broken in spirit, lay huddled together on all the floor-space, in the surrounding sheds, and out under the trees. During the day it was discovered that every other building used as a hospital in the city was equally crowded. Medical supplies were exhausted; the doctors and nursing staffs, unable to meet the demand on their services, were collapsing from strain and sleeplessness. The Turkish tragedy was culminating in Damascus.
H.S. Gullett (1944) The Australian Imperial Force in Sinai and Palestine, Sydney: Angus & Robertson.
Further Reading:
The Liberation of Damascus, Palestine, 1 October 1918
Battles where Australians fought, 1899-1920
The Battle of St Quentin Canal
France, 29 September - 1 October 1918
Contents
Items
Outline
The Battle of St Quentin Canal, France, 29 September - 1 October 1918, Outline
Roll of Honour
The Battle of St Quentin Canal, France, 29 September - 1 October 1918, Roll of Honour
Lest We Forget
Further Reading:
The Battle of St Quentin Canal, France, 29 September - 1 October 1918
The Battle of St Quentin Canal, France, 29 September - 1 October 1918, Roll of Honour
Battles where Australians fought, 1899-1920
The Battle of Kaukab
Palestine, 30 September 1918
Outline
The 4th Australian Light Horse Regiment in cavalry formation moving up to the attack on the enemy's position at Kaukab.
Kaukab, an action fought on 30 September 1918 about sixteen kilometres south-west of Damascus, brought about when a Turkish column attempted to block the advance by leading elements of the Australian Mounted Division (Major-General Henry Hodgson) towards the city. The Turks, numbering several thousand, were themselves falling back north-east on Damascus, but when they sighted the 4th Australian Light Horse Brigade (Colonel Murray Bourchier) they moved across its path and took up position along a ridge with the clear intention of making a stand. Hodgson ordered Bourchier's 4th and 12th regiments to prepare to charge with the sword across the two kilometre wide stony valley separating the two forces, while the 5th Light Horse Brigade (Brig. General George Macarthur-Onslow) - ignoring the enemy's line-pushed past the western flank and kept going.
Map of the Damascus region with Kaukab located at the bottom left (south west) side of Damascus.
Although their position was well covered by many machine-guns, the Turks had no guns with which to reply to the fire opened up on them by the British horse artillery in Hodgson's force. As the latter began bombarding the Turkish machine-gun posts over open sights, and with Macarthur-Onslow's brigade (French cavalry on distinctive grey horses being prominent) moving ominously in their rear, the Turks lost all heart for a fight. The Australians were expecting a hot reception by the time Bourchier finally gave the order to advance soon after 11 a.m., but in the event the action was bloodless. The German machine gunners abandoned their weapons without firing a shot at the charging lines of horsemen and joined in the general flight. Twelve machine-guns were thus captured, and 22 prisoners, for no loss to the attackers.
A battery of the Nottinghamshire Brigade (The Notts) in action at Kaukab.
Extracted from the book produced by Chris Coulthard-Clark, Where Australians Fought - The Encyclopaedia of Australia's Battles, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1998, pp. 164.
Additional References cited by Chris Coulthard-Clark:
H.S. Gullett (1944) The Australian Imperial Force in Sinai and Palestine, Sydney: Angus & Robertson.
Further Reading:
The Battle of Kaukab, Palestine, 30 September 1918
Battles where Australians fought, 1899-1920
The Battle of St Quentin Canal
France, 29 September - 1 October 1918
Outline
The St. Quentin Canal from the air
St Quentin Canal, scene of an attack on 29 September-1 October 1918 by the Australian Corps commanded by Lieut.-General Sir John Monash, aimed at breaking through the main defence system of the Hindenburg Line. The German complex of trenches had been constructed mainly east of the St Quentin Canal (connecting the sources of the Somme and Scheldt rivers) to utilise that waterway as an additional obstacle to an attacker, except where the canal passed into a tunnel for nearly six kilometres through hills between Bellicourt and Venhuille; here it actually bulged west beyond the line followed by the canal underground. Monash was ordered to make his assault along this section of front, since the canal posed no obstacle at this point except that the tunnel possibly provided deep shelter for enemy reserves. The importance of this bridged approach was, however, obvious to the Germans and the defences of the area had been thickened accordingly.
Map of the St. Quentin region.
With the divisions which had taken the Hindenburg Outpost Line (q.v.) now in need of rest, Monash found himself with only two divisions-the 3rd and 5th-in reasonable condition for combat. For the operation contemplated, therefore, the Australian Corps was reinforced by two American divisions-the 27th (New York) and 30th (Tennessee)-which took over the left and right sectors of the corps area. These formations contained as many as three times the number of infantry available in any of the Australian divisions at this time, but the troops were newly trained and lacked battle experience. To overcome this deficiency, the 1st and 4th divisions were each required to provide about 200 experienced officers and men for an advisory 'mission' to assist in preparing the Americans for the coming operation.
Close-up aerial view of the high ground above the St. Quentin Canal.
In the plan which Monash devised-as usual, elaborate but carefully constructed - he decided to utilise the Americans to attack the first objective, the main Hindenburg Line above the tunnel, and also the second line a kilometre or more behind that. lie would then pass through the two Australian divisions to carry on the assault for another four kilometres through the third and final objective, the Beaurevoir Line.
Since concealment of the point of attack was an impossibility, a two-day preliminary bombardment was settled upon. Apart from' smashing up the defences, this would use a consignment of 30,000 mustard-gas shells just arrived from English factories. Tanks would also he used in the attack; 60 supporting the Americans in the first phase, 30 with the Australians in the second.
Captured German machine gun positions on the bank of the St Quentin Canal.
Monash's plan did not envisage flanking corps trying to cross the sections of canal on either flank, since he considered this likely to be too costly, but in the event Rawlinson directed that the British 9th Corps would make such an attempt at the Bellicourt end of the tunnel in the south. A major problem which quickly emerged was, however, the fact that the chosen start-line for the attack had not yet been secured, and would entail a separate preliminary operation to wrest control of the required ground from the enemy. This attack, launched at 5.30 a.m. on 27 September by a regiment of the 27th Division, failed-largely due to the Americans not heeding advice about clearing trenches and dugouts properly, and thus leaving significant pockets of Germans who emerged behind the attackers with machine guns.
To the south matters had gone somewhat better. The 30th Division made good progress, thanks to the accuracy of the bombardment, and enabled the 5th Australian Division to pass through and capture Bellicourt village at the mouth of the canal. The situation to the north now placed this gain in peril, since German fire from this flank stopped any further movement forward. The battle might have lapsed into stalemate at this point, but for the astonishing achievement of the flanking British 9th Corps in getting across the canal and striking out halfway towards the Beaurevoir Line. This success threatened the Germans with being outflanked and forced their gradual withdrawal. The whole operation up to 2 October had cost the two Australian divisions involved 2,577 casualties, but the main Hindenburg Line had been breached.
The steep, wooded banks of the St Quentin Canal, in the Hindenburg Main Line, looking towards Bellenglise from near Riqueval.
Extracted from the book produced by Chris Coulthard-Clark, Where Australians Fought - The Encyclopaedia of Australia's Battles, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1998, pp. 162-164.
Additional References cited by Chris Coulthard-Clark:
C.E.W. Bean (1937) The Australian Imperial Force in France during the Main German Offensive, 1918, Sydney: Angus & Robertson.
Further Reading:
The Battle of St Quentin Canal, France, 29 September - 1 October 1918
The Battle of St Quentin Canal, France, 29 September - 1 October 1918, Roll of Honour
Battles where Australians fought, 1899-1920
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